


sleep is for the weak, he says. i am weak, he says

by birdybirdnerd



Category: Pendragon - D. J. MacHale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Rarepair, i mean i guess?? no territories no war just fluff, patrick needs more sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 03:12:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17654966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdybirdnerd/pseuds/birdybirdnerd
Summary: Patrick/Alder domestic fluff, it's all I can say. Blame theneverwar on Tumblr





	sleep is for the weak, he says. i am weak, he says

**Author's Note:**

> Okay okay I KNOW I gotta get on writing for Somewhere Else but I was having a conversation with someone on Tungle about this rarepair from Pendragon and got hit with those warm comfy feels that only fic could solve. 
> 
> Though, being a) a rarepair from b) a book series with a fandom consisting of twelve people and a coconut, I had to make that fic myself
> 
> So have something I literally just wrote in like ten minutes tops while doped up on my horse tranqs- sorry, I mean depression meds. Yeah. Those things
> 
> Unbeta'd, probs not gonna be. Just needed this outta my system

Patrick's fingers ached. Strike that, his whole hands ached. His fingers, his wrists, his forearms- the longer he thought about it, the more he realized everything ached something awful.

It only registered in the back of his mind, though, before being passed off. He moved, ignoring the shooting pains it brought on, and reached for his coffee cup. He raised it to his lips, eyes still trained on his computer screen, scanning line after line of yet another essay. They'd begun to blur together at this point, whose essay he was grading, but he didn't care. He was in the zone.

He frowned down at his cup. It was empty. Without thinking much about it, he set it back down and went back to typing.

There was a sigh from behind him, and the sound of someone standing up.

"That is the third time in an hour you have tried to drink from your cup," Alder said, walking over from where he'd been reading on the couch. He leaned over Patrick's shoulder and plucked the cup from the desk. "It has been empty every time as well."

Patrick hummed, paying his husband only half a mind as his fingers tapped out another notation, another correction, another another another-

The screen went black.

"Hey!" Patrick snapped his eyes up at Alder. "I was in the middle of something!"

Alder gave him an exasperated smile. "I only turned the monitor off, you didn't lose anything."

With a _harrumph_ , Patrick went to turn the screen back on, but Alder grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Patty, you need a break."

Sitting back into his chair and coincidentally, leaning back into Alder's chest, Patrick sighed. "You know I can't do that," he said wearily. "I have over a hundred papers to grade by Monday. Then I have another dozen or so final theses from my other class to go over, and then-"

A finger on his lips stopped him, and he frowned petulantly.

"You cannot do your job correctly if you exhaust yourself," Alder countered. "Come on, let's get you some real food."

Patrick was about to protest that Doritos counted as food, but it turned into a yelp as his husband scooped him out of the computer chair. Alder carried him, bridal style, into the kitchen and sat him down on a bar stool at the counter.

"You. Stay." Alder wagged a finger in his face to make sure he was listening. "I will make you something, you will relax, and when I deem you ready to go back to work, you will. Yes?"

Patrick rolled his eyes, fondness blooming in his chest despite his exasperation. "Okay, dear. You win."

Alder sent him a smile to rival the sun, and turned around to rummage through the fridge. "Anything in mind?" he asked after a moment.

Patrick had to rouse himself from the doze he was falling into, chin propped up on his hand as he watched Alder's backside as he searched. "Mh?"

"I'll take that as a no."

Smiling, Patrick crossed his arms on the counter and laid his head on them. "You know what I like."

"Better than you do, sometimes," Alder quipped, pulling out a few things and setting them on the counter.

He set about turning the stove on, cutting up some veggies and preparing something that smelled absolutely divine. Patrick's mouth watered and his stomach grumbled, even as his eyelids drooped. He was more tired than he'd realized.

He must have said something aloud, because Alder responded, a laugh in his voice. "You've been up and on that computer for seventeen hours. Of course you are tired." He tossed some spices and oil into a pan and waited for it to start bubbling, before stirring in the freshly-chopped veggies. "After this, you sleep. No arguing."

"Yes, sir."

Alder shook his head, a flush dancing across his cheeks. No matter how long they'd been together, Patrick always managed to make him blush with the smallest of things. For such a big, strong, brave man, Alder was surprisingly soft. Patrick loved him all the more for it.

He definitely dozed off this time, because it only felt like a few minutes before Alder was shaking him awake. "Dinner's ready."

Patrick sat up, cracking his neck, and looked down at the plate of sauteed veggies his husband set in front of him. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he asked, picking up his fork and spearing a potato.

"Only every moment of every day." Alder pressed a kiss to Patrick's temple and pulled up a second stool. He dug into his own meal, and they sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying the delicious food.

After their plates were cleared and rinsed off, sitting in the sink to be washed later, Patrick felt the full weight of his exhaustion hit him.

"I can sleep on my own," he told Alder as the other man half led and half carried him to their room. "It's still relatively early. You finish your book, do your thing. Don't feel like you have to stay with me."

"I don't stay with you because I have to," Alder said as he pulled off Patrick's sweater and kissed him on the shoulder. He unbuttoned his own shirt, tossing it to the side and falling back onto the bed, pulling Patrick with him. "I do it because I _want_ to."

"Yeah, but-"

"Patrick Mac, hush and sleep," Alder interrupted, pulling the covers over the two of them. He pulled Patrick to his chest and sighed.

"I-"

"Sleep."

Patrick huffed, smile dancing across his lips. "I was just going to say I love you."

Alder chuckled, the action sending warm puffs of breath across the back of Patrick's neck. "I love you too."

Patrick closed his eyes and settled back into the warm embrace, letting sleep claim him.


End file.
